Amid widespread disruption of Internet services in Iran, news and images trickle out Wednesday evening, but it is clear protests rage on in the capital Tehran.
Social media reports speak of heavy police, anti-riot troops, and Basij militia presence in the streets, while people try not to congregate in one location to avoid attacks, tear gas and in some instances gunfire.
One report from the capital’s eastern district of Narmak said government forces in hundreds have taken over major squares and intersections, not allowing crowds to gather, but people were shouting slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Videos received at 21:30 local time show protests in the second largest city, Mashhad, an important religious center.
Iran International reported earlier that activists have intensified calls for labor and commercial strikes to put further pressure on the government. In the wake of these calls, oil industry workers issued statements threatening a general strike. A statement by oil contract workers and another by regular employees on Wednesday threatened that if the government does not stop its use of force and release all prisoners, they would start strikes.
The oil industry is the most critical sector in Iran’s economy and oil workers’ strikes played a major role in the 1979 revolution against the monarchy.
“We strongly condemn the murder of Mahsa Amini, which was in fact a warning to all of us and had no justification. Such a crime and other crimes cause great pain,” the regular employees of the government oil industry said.
“We announce our decisive support for the people’s protests in the streets, and we are part of the people whose life and human dignity have been trampled upon by the tyrannical government for more than 40 years,” the statement added.
Iran International cannot verify the full authenticity or details of videos posted on Twitter, but we use our best judgement to share what we believe is not disinformation.
Our live updates here ended at 01:15 Iran time on Thursday.
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Students at Esfahan University protesting on Wednesday, calling for nationwide support for change.
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Wednesday, university students protest in Sabzevar, Khorasan-e Razavi Province.
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In Ekbatan, a district of Tehran, people were chanting death to Khamenei from their apartment windows. Last night, a group of Basij militia showed up at the township and fired with shotguns at windows to silence protesters.
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Large protests took place in Sanandaj, a large Kurdish city in western Iran, where people chanted slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. No security forces are visible as the government has apparently focused on Tehran.
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Security forces lining the streets in Sadeghiyeh in western Tehran where there have been several protests over the past two weeks. One tweet said that most of the security forces were teenagers who seemed tired and disorganized.
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In Najafabad, a religious city of around 300,000 in Esfahan Province, just west of the historic city of Esfahan, protesters broke windows of the city’s famous seminary. No images available yet.
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A video apparently sent from Tehran's Sattar Kahn district shows security forces lining up in the streets to prevent protests. The narrator says that some of these troops speak Arabic amongst themselves, possibly meaning that the Islamic Republic brought its proxy forces from Iraq or Lebanon to strengthen its military presense in the streets. There have been reports in the past that Arab militiamen were brought to Iran to suppress protests.
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Iran’s National Orchestra had to cancel a concert Wednesday evening after musicians refused to perform showing their solidarity with the protests.
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A video from Mashhad shows protesters surrounding a police car and overturning it in the street. Mashhad is Iran's second largest city and an important religious center.
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People shouting slogans from their windows in Chitgar, a western district of Tehran, Wednesday evening.